


The Dangers In Front Of Us

by dead_constellations



Category: Original Work, Sergioland
Genre: Explicit Language, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, Major Character Injury, Nonbinary Character, POV First Person, Western
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:09:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15876315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dead_constellations/pseuds/dead_constellations
Summary: "Wild animals flee the dangers in front of them, and when they’ve fled, they’re safe; but we are tormented by both past and present."





	The Dangers In Front Of Us

I was in the kid's house, and I was trying to find him before they did. 

I knew they wanted to kill all three as some kind of fucked up tribute to progress, and judging by the noises coming from downstairs I figured the Marauders had already got the parents. I wasn’t too broke up about it since they’d dug their own graves, but the kid...

Found him hiding under a table upstairs before others did but they heard him screaming when he saw me and came up after us quick enough. 

I shot toward the doorway a few times to try to discourage the Marauders from coming in; didn't need them all recognizing me and maybe coming after the crew on top of everything else. 

I was so focused on them that I didn’t see that the kid had got ahold of a gun from somewhere. Must have belonged to one of his parents. 

That thing was loud. 

I thought he missed. 

Found out that he had not missed during the ride back to camp. 

Lucky for me it was one of those single-shot pistols or I'd have bled out right there on that hideous rug in the drawing room. I took the gun from him in case the little bastard knew how to reload.

I tried to keep out of sight and wait for the Marauders to give me an opening but couldn’t aim worth shit because I had the aspiring gunslinger under one arm and he kept wriggling around. I didn’t want to let him go. He didn’t seem to have much of a sense of self-preservation, having shot at someone trying to rescue him.

A bunch of Feds showed up pretty soon after that and the Scarlet Marauders had to lessen their shooting at us to deal with them. 

Half-dragged, half-carried the little gunslinger toward the stairs I’d come up in back of the house while the Marauders were all busy with the Feds. Noticed an oil lamp burning on the same table the kid had gotten that pistol out of. I threw it on the floor for good measure. Have fun dealing with Feds and fire, you bastards.

Made it down the stairs and only saw one Marauder. Killed the one standing guard by the horses. Not sure whether they were a Marauder or a Fed. Didn't matter. 

Got up onto Mule and rode the hell out. Kid was kicking and screaming and biting the whole way. 

Stopped to give Mule a little rest halfway to camp. 

Kid made a run for it and I called after him, told him I was too tired to give chase but even if he got away, either the Marauders would kill him or the desert would. I really was too tired to chase him. I sat, figured this chunk of his fate was up to him. 

He seemed to think I was telling the truth and came back but not too close. 

He just kept staring at me and wouldn’t take the water I offered so I drank some. 

I said I knew had to be hard to believe but that I was trying to help him, not kill him. I pointed out that I could have a thousand times over by now if that'd been my aim. 

Asked him what his name was. No answer, but he stepped a little closer. 

They'd told me his name when they let me in on the plan but I’d already forgotten. Couldn't remember the parents’ names either. I wasn't the one gonna be making the grave markers for them so I didn't care to know. I hoped like hell I wouldn't have to make one for the kid. 

I offered the water again and this time he took it. He said his name was Percival. He asked my name and I told him. He said his father had told him that I was a dirty criminal and so were all the Scarlet Marauders. I said I couldn't disagree with his father and laughed, but felt that lakewater-in-your-lungs feeling when I took took a breath and it hit me that I'd been ignoring it for a while. 

It hurt.

Kid was a better shot than I had gave him credit for. 

I realized I was beyond exhausted, and the familiar tired-sick feeling of bad injury made our getting back to camp that much more urgent. I asked Percival if he was ready to move out. 

He asked in a shaky voice if his parents were dead. I said I wasn’t too sure and he knew I was full of shit. Came at me with fists and teeth again but gave up pretty quick this time. 

We got back on Mule and headed toward camp. He was quiet and I didn’t think there was anything I could say that would make him feel better so I was quiet too.

The sun rolled on overhead, still blazing hot. 

I started getting kind of unsteady in the saddle and he started getting squirmy so I whoahed Mule and helped Percival down and handed him the canteen. I half dismounted, half fell off Mule. 

Sat up dizzy and realized I was in worse shape than I had thought and wondered if maybe I wasn’t gonna be able to stand on my own again for a spell. 

I pulled my revolver and told the kid to cover his ears and don’t be scared. Mule wouldn’t be too happy about the sudden noise but I couldn’t think of any other options. 

Fired two shots in the air and hoped. 

We had to be close. Maybe Foxbane would hear it and come running. Or Morgan, with his sharp ears. 

Waited.

Hoped some more.

Nothing but wind and sand and heat and buzzards.

I think I passed out for a while. 

They found us.

It gets hazy but I came to be belly-in-the-sand, lying on my coat. Rush had ahold of my hand so tight I thought I might lose a few fingers. Foxbane was there with those damned awful doctor’s tools she has for digging bullets and arrows and god knows what out of me and anyone else she comes across. Morgan was trying to console Percival and get him to look at something other than all the blood and the bandages, but the kid would only talk to Foxbane (because of the tools, I think) and kept asking her if “Mr. Carter” was going to be OK. 

She didn’t answer him.

The thought that some dumb kid who would have done anything in his power to make me a corpse an hour before, now deigning to worry about me—and saying it all ever so formal—was just about the funniest goddamn thing I'd ever heard and laughed in a croaky way. 

I told Percival I wasn't his teacher. I meant that he didn’t need to call me by any kind of title but I think I just confused him. I didn’t have it in me to explain.

Foxbane asked what the hell happened and I told her the Marauders had decided that the death of this town and Percival’s family were gonna be symbols of having shucked the chains forged by Naistar. Told her how they wanted to break open the skulls of everyone they thought might possibly look to be a blacksmith whether they was old enough to work a bellows or not.

I don’t know if she got what I meant. I don’t always make a lot of sense and things come out in riddles sometimes. She’s pretty sharp, though, so maybe she did.

She asked drily if I had to get shot up with such alarming regularity and I informed her that this time, it really wasn't my fault. 

She asked whose fault it was and went at me with the tools. 

The kid started sobbing. 

I don’t know what happened after that. 

Was surprised to wake up again. 

The taste of honey was in my mouth. One of Foxbane’s potions?

I was under some scratchy blankets and Rush was bent over me whispering something. They were trying to hush me, I think. They kept looking over at something though. I looked that way, too. Out past some gnarled branches, I saw Foxbane talking to some of the Marauders. Her hand was on the butt of her pistol. 

Didn’t see Morgan or Percival.

I looked back at Rush and their eyes were big and scared. I didn't like that. 

I blacked out again. 

Felt like I was maybe being dragged over smooth stones.

The kid was crying. 

A voice declared its eagerness to see a hanging. I think they were talking about me. 

I don't know what happened to the crew. 

I wish Rush was here.

**Author's Note:**

> The title and summary come from a translation of a quote by Seneca the Younger. Quote and translation found here:  
> https://labentiasidera.tumblr.com/post/175585335413/ferae-pericula-quae-vident-fugiunt-cum


End file.
